"Do you see what happens, Larry? DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS? [proceeds to smash up what he wrongly believes is Larry's new Corvette] THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS! DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS? [proceeds to smash up what he wrongly believes is Larry's new Corvette] THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS!"

"Do you see what happens, Larry? DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T BUY US CANDY? [proceeds to throw temper tantrum in the check stand] THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T BUY US CANDY! DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T BUY US CANDY? [proceeds to kick, stomp, scream, and cry in front of all the other customers who wish the parents would do something about the unruly child] THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T BUY US CANDY!"

The constant theme here is that this attempt to restrain out of control spending on public employee salaries and benefits is motivated by some inexplicable hostility. It must be hatred of teachers, or some other such cover hatred.

This is a tactic.

At all costs, attention must be diverted from the financial reality of out of control spending on public employee salaries and benefits.

The tactic is to deny, deny, deny. That intent can't really be to control spending. The intent must be... well, you name it.

Well this has all been very educational. Because I think Public Employee Unions have too much power and have carved out excessive benefits for themselves and wield excessive power, I am:

1) Unpatriotic2) a hater of true heroes3) a Stalinist4) a Nazi5) not down with John Lennon (I guess I already knew that)6) a hater7) assaulting American families (I have kids, so someone needs to call child protective services right away)8) uneducated9) undemocratic10) uncivilized

Where's the Althouse interview footage, where she talks to the sign holder.

I'm sure it went like this:

A "Can you see how someone might think your sign is promoting vandalism?"

Signer: "It is a joke."

A "But, can you see how it could be interpreted as a vindication of violence against cars?"

Signer: "The reference is to an idiot running off and taking vengeance w/o thinking. So, if someone is looking for a literal interpretation, they'd conclude that the sign is a warning against Walker's steamrolling ways."

I really, really hate that I am not considered a middle class worker because I don't belong to a union. (raisng hand furiously to get teachers attention.."me too, me too, I'm a middle class worker too Ms Union ma'am". Sigh, she never calls on me...)

He's sitting back and loving this. After just six weeks in office, he is one of the most well-known governors in the country and is becoming an example for the current conservative movement in America.

Meanwhile, the unions and teachers are looking like asses. And the Democrats are looking like cowards.

I note none of the union advocates answered last time I asked, but how cold was it last night?

Great idea, bring the kids out on a freezing night to use them as puppets because you, as parents, have no ethics (Insta's been looking into how much could be done to both the "doctors" and "teachers" for their little fraud-in).

Jason said...

One sign: "Only dictators and plurocrats need to fear a union."

Not to mention anybody who thinks mandatory union membership is un-American or somebody who disagrees with their union's leadership.

PS The sign maker must have gotten plutocrat from an old Uncle Scrooge comic book. I haven't seen that word in 50 years.

Bet the sign maker had to be told it meant the Rich - you know, people who actually earn their money.

If private persons wish to join unions, then I for one have no problem with any employer that is dumb enough to hire union personnel.

Public officials gathering together to empower themselves against the people who elected them, however, should be outlawed from doing so.

The government officials do not have the right to unionize against the people who pay the taxes.

That is immoral and unconstitutional and we must stop it.

But people (and I'm speaking here of non-government officials) should have the right to organize into unions if they so desire. In America, we have this freedom and we should not allow anyone to take it from us.

"Plutocracy:a society that is ruled by its wealthiest members a wealthy social class that controls or greatly influences the government of a society"

By this defination, not a plutocrat. But, dammit, sure wish I was..wealthy and in charge that is.Do these people really think that the tax paying citizens of Wisconsin are wealthy enough to pay whatever they demand? Do they not have nieghbors that are not union members, pay their taxes, their insurance premiums and are responsible for their own retirement??

Been away on vacation skiing but still checking in on the blog. Professor, you and the Meademeister have done an excellent job of "reporting" from Madison. And by reporting I mean simply giving us the images and letting us decide. Truly, "we report; you decide"

And I have to say the images from both sides speaks well of Wisconsin. Clearly some of the poster language is over the top. I expect that from demonstrations. But dare I use the "C" word?

Although I am sympathetic to many of the Tea Party positions, I wasn't sure what was behind the movement. Luckily, George Soros has figured it out for me!

“Look, I think the people in the Tea Party are very decent people, hard-working. They have been hit by a force that they — that comes from somewhere which they can’t fully understand,” Soros said. “And they are being misled. And they are misled by people who are using it for their selfish purposes, namely to remove regulations and reduce taxation. So reduce taxation and regulation and they are being used and deceived.”

Yes. Just a bunch of poor ignorant working class types being misled. If only we could see the light and plead for MORE regulation and taxation, bigger government. Then everything would be OK. We could ALL enjoy generous benefits, early retirement and feasts at the free government cheese trough.

Phil, you'd probably like this too then. WARNING: links to Ezra Klein, but just absorb his "insurance company with a large standing army" argument and ignore his non-sequitur about how that means we shouldn't cut anything else.

Surely you have linked to the wrong YouTube clip, Professor? Everybody knows that Democrats and unions and lefties have eschewed violent slogans and imagery in favor of the new civility. Bill Maher has told us so.

I have a question. It is a real question and I will have an answer with or without you so spare the unhelpful partisan snark please.

When Texas Democrats played their legislative reindeer games in 2003 they successfully thwarted Republican attempts to redistrict (in a non-census year) back from earlier 'crazy quilt' gerrymandering . How was that successful? By running out the calendar? Eventually Wisconsin fleabaggers must return. Or not. Is it possible to stay MIA so long that the bill is dropped or somehow runs out never to be raised again? What I am asking is, doesn't their situation stay the same or necessarily worsen?

Calypso;Phil, you'd probably like this too then. WARNING: links to Ezra Klein, but just absorb his "insurance company with a large standing army" argument and ignore his non-sequitur about how that means we shouldn't cut anything else.

Thanks, yes I've seen that and in fine Klein style he starts out seemingly "honest" and willing to look at the hard questions but ends up in typical liberal territory. The problem with his "insurance" analogy is that insurance is a bet where you "win" (i.e. get the money) when you "lose" (i.e. die, have a car accident.) In the case of Social Security you win (get the money) when you win (live to 65). Similar "insurance" with Medicare.

"shoutingthomas said... The constant theme here is that this attempt to restrain out of control spending on public employee salaries and benefits is motivated by some inexplicable hostility. It must be hatred of teachers, or some other such cover hatred."

I don't think that is true. Pretty much everybody hates teachers. I mean sometimes you can point to one teacher that inspired you and moved you and really meant something to you. But conversely you can point to ten teachers that really sucked. That were petty tyrants and assholes. Who made your life a living hell and had no concept of what life was like in the real world. Who enjoyed power games and torturing kids like the bugs being burned by the Mexican Kids at the begining of the Wild Bunch.

Most teachers are more like Sue Sylvester than Mr. Chips.

Most people hate teachers. They just don't remember it until these douchenozzles put it in their faces.

Sue Sylvester: Oh God, Will, let me break it down for you. High school's a dry run for the rest of your life. Not everyone can be champions; not everyone should be champions. The world needs fry cooks; bus drivers...(Glee, Season 2, Episode 2)

"What I am asking is, doesn't their situation stay the same or necessarily worsen?"----------------

I can GUARANTEE the Dems will be back. Remember...they are only needed for budget bills. The GOP have all the votes they need to pass things like voter ID, conceal and carry, and other bills that conservatives have wanted to move on for years.

All Fitzgerald has to do is introduce the Voter ID bill next week, and the one Dem senator that is hiding in Madison will be back. They arent all in Illinois.

"Why would they though? They can't stop any of those bills even if they are there to vote, so what difference does it make if they are there or not?"

----------------------

Because just the sight of the GOP passing legislation with no Dems present isnt goinng to sit well with the constituents of those Dems. Plus, the Dems lose all rights to amend those bills...so, in the end, they are going to get nothing they want.

"What I am asking is, doesn't their situation stay the same or necessarily worsen?"

They're counting on Walker or a group of R legislators blinking.

Otherwise, the recalls begin. Two mentioned in the WKOW vid Phil links could be susceptible, as well as Vinehout, I think, and maybe others. Of course, Dems are launching recalls, too, but they've got an uphill battle of numbers and the requirement that someone has to have been in office at least a year before recall can be initiated.

I wanted the R's to focus first on budget matters (like they're mostly doing), but if the Dems are going to take those issues off the table, I'm fine with progressing with the other items on the agenda.

Tracy Fuller is a radical leftist. This is the kind of drivel he/she wrote:

During slavery, house slaves were hated by field slaves for living in the big house, they were all still slaves. The field slaves always envious of what they perceived as the obvious comfort of the house slaves, never once considered the danger the house slaves were in living so close to the master. More than one field slave was astonished when the house slave was whipped, or hung just like the common field slave was because after all they were just slaves.

Yo maybe Edutcher, or Fenster, Alex, Pogo, shouting Tommy, crew sluts et al could call their harley buddies, get their tweek on and go kick the f**k out of those little stinkin' reds. Nip it in the Bud, pardner--puffin' time

Not at all, Chip. They both work. They're both... favorites, so either one is good, but if you have both, I'd go with "fleebaggers," because "fleebaggers" is a little more favorite. But if you don't have "fleebaggers" it's like alright it's fine, cause "fleabaggers" is favorite anyway. It's like another favorite, but not as much. Not as much favorite. But they're both good. They're both good.

"2000 people, tops, turned out in support for Walker yesterday. 68,000 came out to demonstrate against him."

I'll accept those estimates of who created the bigger mob. Just remember - we're in Madison. Why is it so many Madisonians seem to so often forget that Madison does not equal Wisconsin?

But say it was 68 to 2 or even 100 to 2. Doesn't that only makes it all the more devastating that the numbers that really count - the vote totals last November, the votes that were registered in secret balloting - showed a majority of Wisconsinites in support of this Republican government?

Katherine: It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster, to watch boys grow up and help them along; to see their characters develop and what they become when they leave school and the world gets hold of them. I don't see how you could ever get old in a world that's always young. Mr.Chipping(Mr. Chips) Actually I am going on strike because I refuse to contribute anyting to my pension or medical insurance costs. The little buggers will have to fend for themselves. (Goodbye Mr. Chips, 1939)

@AJ Lynch: I agree that Bridges' Oscar for "Crazy Heart" was a "cumulative/consolation Oscar" for "Lebowski" and, perhaps, some other far better and more memorable films. But I have no fault to find with that, for the award is to him, not the movie.

@Prof. Althouse: That's an interesting clip you embedded. It appears to be a video taken of the screen at a live viewing, because one can easily hear the audience chanting along with the best lines. That's a neat sorta "meta" way to demonstrably reinforce the proposition that this particular sign was intended to evoke shared memories of a very violent episode.

@Chip Ahoy: I think you have the history in Texas wrong. Here's the condensed version: Texas gained House seats in the 2000 Census, but the Dems still had sufficient clout in the state legislature to block any GOP redistricting plan, and did. An emergency three-judge panel of the federal courts revised the existing map -- a Martin Frost-engineered pro-Dem gerrymander from the 1990s -- in the minimum possible ways necessary to carve out new districts without regard to political concerns, so the stalemate emphatically benefited Dems.

In November 2002 Texas voters punished Dems by sending fewer of them to the state legislature. So when the new legislature convened in 2003, Dems no longer had the votes to block a GOP plan. Instead, they stalled -- first with a flee-and-boycott to Oklahoma by House Dems in the regular session, then by a flee-and-boycott to New Mexico by Senate Dems.

Thereupon both chambers of the Texas Legislature proceeded to pass a redistricting plan, the Governor signed it into law, and the one-and-ONLY Texas legislative redistricting based on the 2000 Census was completed. Anyone who tells you that Texas had "two redistrictings in one decade" is either a liar or a fool, because a federal court drawing an emergency map is not of the same political dignity as the actions of the State Legislature and Executive as mandated by both the federal and state constitution.

Texas Dems have continued the quorum destroying shenanigans, however, into the latter part of the last decade. In consequence, in 2010, the Dems have dropped to all-time post-Reconstruction lows in both chambers, and except for the lawsuit that we already know they're going to file (claiming "RACISM!" of course), they'll be pretty much irrelevant as Texas redistricts based on the 2010 Census.

To edutcher, one of the best economic texts ever written was a Scrooge McDuck comic book. I remember this comic. It was in the 40s or 50s. In it, a big storm came and blew open Scrooges safe and blew his money all over town. Everyone rushed out with wheelbarrows to collect greenbacks. Because they were all rich beyond their dreams, they all stopped working and relaxed on their bales of money. Meanwhile, Scrooge started plowing land, planting crops, and opening stores. Before long, because no one else was producing anything anybody wanted, Scrooge was the only one who had anything anyone wanted to buy. Of course, he got all his money back, which is probably how he got it in the first place.

Just a little history lesson for the proper use of the phrase "hoist on his on petard."

A petard was an engine of war or an explosive device used to blow in a door or gate, breach a wall, etc., according to my dictionary. The word "petard" comes from the Middle French word for "to break wind." If someone had an accident and blew himself up, he was "hoist on his own petard."